Colorism in South Asia
Guest post by Anum Chandani, APF Leadership Council, who created an online petition to ban production of Fair & Lovely, a skin-lightening cosmetic product produced by Unilever.
Fairness creams have long perpetuated and exaggerated anti blackness sentiments within the South Asian community and as Unilever has itself vowed to fight against systemic racism, we believe it is the right time to push them to discontinue this self deprecating product.
Please find below our rationale for starting this petition that garnered over 16,000 signatures from 94 countries in just over two weeks, and has been featured in multiple mainstream media outlets, including Teen Vogue and The Washington Post, which feature our op-ed on the subject.
Reflecting on the recent conversation regarding race in US and the world, I felt that as Asians and minorities ourselves we couldn’t sit back and criticize the majority for not taking enough action.
“It was imperative for us to look at our own biases and the anti-blackness that exists within our communities which overtly or covertly restricts us in being better allies to the black community. ”
Hira Hashmi is a Senior HR Manager for Finance and Luxury Marketing & Sales at Revlon Inc.
Marvi Ahmed is a doctoral student at Cornell University.
Anum Chandani is a Strategy Markets Analysis Manager at Schlumberger in Houston, TX.
In fact, it was imperative for us to look at our own biases and the anti-blackness that exists within our communities which overtly or covertly restricts us in being better allies to the black community.
Two of my high school friends, Hira Hashmi and Marvi Ahmed, and I decided to initiate a petition addressed to Alan Jope, CEO Unilever to take responsibility for its product “Fair & Lovely.”
Fair & Lovely is a Unilever product that is the market leader in fairness creams, which are part of a $23 billion global industry built upon the premise that fair skin leads to a better life and success.
The advertisements for this product promote colorism and anti-blackness, particularly in Asian communities. Since Unilever has openly vowed to be an ally in the world's fight against systemic racism, we believe selling a product that promotes anti-blackness in many parts of the world is contrary to their own stance.
This petition has started to put pressure on corporations. Johnson & Johnson announced plans to retire their “skin whitening” product lines. Unilever announced that it will no longer promote skin lightening and will eliminate their brand called “fair and lovely.”